Only a few items were on the agenda for the Lamar Utility Board’s bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 26. Lamar Light Plant Superintendent, Houssin Hourieh noted that sales of electricity through the end of February are down 7.3% compared to the same time last year. Residential sales dropped 2.7% and Commercial/Industrial sales were off 11%. Revenue dropped accordingly, off 12.3% during this time frame.

Light Plant line crews are upgrading a distribution line on 14th Street in Lamar between Park and Parkway Streets and now that warmer weather in on hand, crews are getting a head start on the tree trimming program around power lines which will help minimize outages later this spring and summer. The Wind Turbine repair crew will begin their semi-annual maintenance and inspection program on all five turbines. The inspections will take about 10 hours on a calm day when the turbines are shut down and the preventative maintenance work can be performed.

It was announced earlier in the month by ARPA, Arkansas River Power Authority, that the power company entered into a power supply agreement with Twin Eagle Resource Management, LLC., for the purchase and sale of electricity. Twin Eagle will provide power supply, scheduling, and transmission services to ARPA. Twin Eagle will also schedule ARPA’s federal hydropower resources and conduct energy accounting settlements for its members beginning in 2015 and extending into 2022.